Switching to HFT crypto company?

Capital One / Design
257jdx

Go to company page Capital One Design

257jdx
Apr 27, 2019 10 Comments

Thinking of joining my friend’s 5 person high-frequency trading crypto company, as a “Trade Support Engineer” — still trying to figure out exactly what this role would entail.

I would be employee #6. They would be offering me ~$140k in SF. I currently make $130k at a startup in Virginia, but have an interview with a public non-prestigious Bay Area company that could offer me $250k TC.

I’m a product designer by trade and have zero coding skills, other than basic HTML/CSS stuff. Everyone else at the HFT firm has CS degrees, some come from Stanford and Princeton — it’s a bit intimidating.

Part of me thinks this is an exciting opportunity to try something new and join a stellar team from which I might be able to learn from. Another part of me thinks I’ll just get stuck doing shitty work with no potential for growth since I can’t code.

Thoughts?

YoE: 4 years

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TOP 10 Comments
  • What’s high frequency for crypto, 3 tx/day?
    🍆
    Apr 27, 2019 5
    • LinkedIn
      tendies

      Go to company page LinkedIn

      BIO
      sex work, quantum computing, and crypto HFT
      tendies
      Ok then how did Alameda research make more than 70 million in less than 2 years? It was founded by an ex Jane street etf trader and I'm sure theyve made more than 150 mill since on bitmex alone they made more than 70 m according to the leaderboard. They said they do more than 5% of crypto market daily and are active across all major exchanges. Going from fix to json websockets isn't that big of a difference right?

      Also, gemini will never be a good exchange because it's hosted in the USA. Any exchange in the USA is trash because that means it needs to do kyc aml and is regulated. Any regulation will always cut into profits and deter retail traders.
      Sep 12, 2019
    • You don’t have to be hft to trade crypto profitably. Automated trading faster than human capable trading still doesn’t necessarily qualify as hft.

      Going from barebones tcp to websockets is kinda a big difference in both performance and flexibility at the unique scale of hft. But there are many other infra issues to take into account other than just the transport protocol you’re sending orders with.

      EDIT
      If you check out Alameda Research’s website they actually specifically point out most of their trading is in the middle frequency timescale space.
      Sep 13, 2019
  • Google
    tsukino

    Go to company page Google

    BIO
    w
    tsukino
    Bad idea - this crypto "HFT" startup doesn't sound like it'll be able to provide the mentorship and dev resources for a budding frontend engineer (plus you are just a back office cost center, so forget the hype). At trading shops, if the title doesn't mention "support" then it still might be a support role. If it mentions support, you are definitely the trader's dog.

    Source: I know people who have worked in similar roles. It was not exciting, to say the least.
    Apr 27, 2019 0
  • What exchanges are they on? Lxdx? Bitmex (lol)? Are they gunning for institutional trading platforms or ones hosted in aws? How can I get in touch with these peeps
    Apr 27, 2019 0
  • New / Eng
    Endlessly

    New Eng

    Endlessly
    Do you get equity? Commission? I'd say go for it if you think it sounds exciting and you're in a stage of life where you have room to take some risk
    Apr 27, 2019 0
  • Uber
    2muchblind

    Go to company page Uber

    2muchblind
    Sounds like a great opportunity to move into development, if that’s what you want to do. For an entry-level dev, the salary and opportunity are great.

    Just set the expectation that you want to be able to code, not handle customer support issues.

    You’re not getting paid much so the learning should be great.
    Apr 27, 2019 0